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Weather forces Chanhassen to move home games

The aftermath of the heavy early summer rains is still evident at Chanhassen.

The aftermath of the heavy early summer rains is still evident at Chanhassen.

The home-team bleachers and press box at the football field of the six-year-old school will sit empty this year, the result of soil erosion.

Last spring, school staffers noticed that soil was washing onto the track surrounding the field. Testing found that there was erosion on the hill upon which the bleacher and plaza, which includes the press box, are built, forcing closure of that side of the stadium.

The season-opening football game for the Storm, set for Sept. 12, has been moved to nearby Chaska High School.

The sites of the remaining home football games — Sept. 26 vs. Benilde-St. Margaret’s; Oct. 2 vs. Bloomington Kennedy and Oct. 15 vs. Bloomington Jefferson — have yet to be determined.

Varsity football is the only sport affected by the closure. The soccer and JV football teams will still be able to use the field., but spectators will be forced to use the visitors side of the field.

More changes on the island

Six years after the heralded opening of its football field on Minneapolis’ historic Nicollet Island, DeLaSalle is planning more renovations to its athletic facilities.

As part of a larger expansion project that is set to get underway, the school will be building new locker rooms with smaller shower areas and adding video facilities that will be shared by the athletic department and other departments within the school.

The new facilities will be built in back of the school, replacing the current loading dock. School officials expect the entire project to be completed by fall 2016.

Zero week

Five West Metro teams will begin their 2014 football campaigns Friday and a sixth will begin Saturday as part of Zero Week, an initiative began by the MSHSL three years ago to allow teams more flexibility in scheduling.

Three of Friday’s games will involve foes from Wisconsin. Chaska, with new head coach Bryan Dahl taking over for Lambert Brown (who left to become athletic director at Maple Grove), will play at Menomonie (Wis.); Minnetonka will play at Hudson (Wis.), a rematch of a game from 2013 in which the Skippers routed the Raiders; and Hopkins will host Superior (Wis.). Friday’s other games are Chanhassen at South St. Paul and Park Center at Richfield.